Cars Paint Hardness

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waxandshine

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Hey everyone. A while ago i was looking around the forums to research the type of clearcoat for a couple of cars and found it a bit of a pain, as did others i saw. So i thought id make a thread listing every car (that i could find!!!) and list them. So if anyone ever has the question they can simply look here. Any replies simply needs the name followed by Soft ,Medium or Hard. You can also add the model, colour, year or paint type (No need to write if it is clearcoated, this will be assumed, only mention single stage). Moderators will update this post with anyones replies. I hope people will join in on this and add their experiences to help others.



AC -
Acura -
Adler -
Alfa Romeo -
Alpina -
Alpine -
Ascari -
Aston Martin -
Audi - Hard. One 00 blue A6 i did was soft though
Austin -
Austin-Healey -
Auverland -
Avanti -
Bentley -
Berkeley -
Bizzarrini -
BMW - Hard
Bristol -
Buckler -
Bugatti -
Buick -
Cadillac -
Chevrolet -
Chevron -
Chrysler -
Citroen -
Daewoo -
Daihatsu -
Daimler -
Datsun -
Dodge -
Ferrari -
Fiat -
Ford -
Honda - Soft. Soft
Hudson -
Humber -
Hummer -
Hyundai -
Isuzu -
Jaguar -
Jeep -
Jensen -
Kaiser -
Kia -
Koenigsegg -
Lada -
Lamborghini -
Lancia -
Land Rover -
Lexus - Soft, 06, black, single stage.
Lincoln -
Lotec -
Lotus -
Maserati -
Matra-Simca -
Maybach -
Mazda -
McLaren -
Mercedes-Benz -
Mercury -
MG -
Mini -
Mitsubishi -
Moretti -
Morgan -
Morris -
Nissan -
Noble -
Opel -
Panther -
Peugeot -
Pontiac -
Porsche - Medium
Proton -
Renault -
Riley -
Rolls-Royce -
Rover -
Saab -
Seat -
Skoda -
Smart -
Subaru -
Suzuki -
Talbot -
Toyota - Soft
Trabant -
Triumph -
TVR -
Vauxhall -
Volkswagen -Hard
Volvo -
Westfield -
Yamaha -
 
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Honda/Acura (same company) All CC's are soft. Some of the championship and taffeta white and the newest red (07+) are single stage.
 
Good Idea!
My nissan maxima has hard CC and
T4R has horrible and soft CC.
 
If you do a search D&D auto detailing made a chart a while back and posted it.
 
Not all BMW paint is hard and my Accord Satin Silver is def not soft soft
 
Couldnt find the chart.

Under Honda, "soft. soft" doesnt mean it's very soft, it means one person has said it's soft, full stop, and someone else agreed that it's soft, if the next person had of said medium it'd be "soft. medium" next to honda.

If not all Bmws have a hard cc then say it, that's the point, it gives people a fair idea of what they have ahead of them. If the majority of bmws have hard clearcoat, which they do, then if someone else has had a different experience they post up saying what it is and the model year colour etc. so other members know that that spec bmw doesnt have a hard clearcoat if they happen to be starting work on it.
 
Just bought my wife a ( 07 ) Nissan Sentra, what about the clearcoat on this vehicle?:cheers:
 
Most Mercedes I've come across are hard. Ceramic clear coat is generally used on Mercedes.
Both of my Honda's are soft. My g/f's Nissan Xterra is mildly soft. Maybe slightly medium.
And as someone said before, Honda/Acura are the same so can be labeled accordingly.
 
There are many veriables to consider when compiling such a list i.e. -

Hard / Soft Clear Coats:
Each vehicle assembly plant uses different clear coat paint from one of three major paint suppliers; PPG, DuPont, and BASF products and each of these companies have a range of several differing paints

1. Some vehicle manufacturers have more than one plant assembling the same model of a vehicle; each plant will often use a different supplier for the clear coat paints.
2. Each assembly plant may elect to use one of several OEM paints from PPG, DuPont or BASF clear coat product lines.
3. There are other factors that will have an effect on a clear coat composition; oven drying time, temperature, the relevant age (i.e. how long ago was the paint applied) spot panel repairs (refinish) that are carried out either at the assembly plant or the rail head or port of entry. Each of these variables will affect the hardness or softness of clear coat paint

This is also true of imports assembled in the US; usually one paint supplier is approved for all plants; however each plant may modify the application/bake process in order to meet production demand. This may also affect which has the harder or softer clear.

Diagnosis is the key, not guess work; before deciding on what products to use ascertain the paint surface conditions - Paint thickness, New or Aged, Single stage or Clear coat, Oxidized, Soft or Hard or CeramiClear etc choose a panel and test your proposed foam pad / polish / machine speed process. Once you are satisfied that this process will give you the finish required, proceed to polish the rest of the paint surface. The more abrasive combination you have to use to see results, the harder the paint.

Using the least aggressive pad / polish combination followed, if necessary by an incrementally more aggressive approach until you find what works.
  • Hard paint - does not mar as easily, but it's more difficult to polish surface defects.
  • Soft paint- is very easy to polish out surface defects, but easier to induce surface marring.
In general Japanese cars have soft paint; European cars (Audi having the hardest, BMW next, and VW similar to BMW) Porsche have extremely soft paint usually. American cars are very random, even for the same make, model, and year (except for GM Corvette, which is extremely hard).

There are exceptions to the rule, with cars having seemingly soft paint but being difficult to correct, and the so called ‘sticky’ clear coat (the clear wasn’t fully cured before the application of a protective plastic
(i.e. Permaguard)

Single stage paint is softer than a colour coat with a clear coat; the hardness of single stage paints is due to the colour pigmentation, single stage white is very hard, while single stage black is very soft. Clear coat hardness will also vary.As always generalizing carries a degree of risk as a panel(s) may have been re-painted
 
The list as said isnt exact, is probable, like you said, cars are sent to different plants and there are factors to consider, but as you also said, there is a common generalising, ie. bmw, audi, vw have hard paint, also from reading other posts, newer lexus black cars are only single stage surprisingly, this is what the list is for, a general idea to give to readers
 
Anyone have experience w/ Fiat 500 paint, Nero (black) inparticular. Trying to find out if its soft, hard or somewhere in the middle, thanks inadvance!

Sent from my SPH-M930 using AG Online
 
My 09' black single stage RAV is really soft.
Sure it's easy to cause swirls if not careful on how you wash and dry it but the swirls are easily removed.
Use the least aggressive polishes and pads and work yourself up as you see fit.
Meguiar's 105 would be overkill IMO in most cases with this car, not saying it will never be needed, in fact I had to use it along with a wool pad from being hit with a bike from one of the kids, the scratch was removed fairly easy.
I will be testing the Optimum Finish Polish today or tomorrow using a Lake Country black flat pad along with my DeWalt 849x.

My white GMC pickup is on the hard side but nothing even Meguiar's Ultimate Compound can't take care of, however I like the Wolfgang Uber Compound on how well if finishes, on white or light colors one could stop there if using a light polishing pad.
 
sal329 said:
Not all BMW paint is hard and my Accord Satin Silver is def not soft soft
Click to expand...


Last summer I detailed a 2010 black Honda Accord Coupe.
I found it to be on the hard side, on the hood I really had to get a aggressive with it being it was horrible using Meguiar's 105.
Turned out fantastic. :dblthumb2:
 
sal329 said:
Not all BMW paint is hard and my Accord Satin Silver is def not soft soft

{08-21-2008, 06:53 PM}
Click to expand...

HateSwirls said:
Last summer I detailed a 2010 black Honda Accord Coupe.
I found it to be on the hard side, on the hood I really had to get a aggressive with it being it was horrible using Meguiar's 105.
Turned out fantastic. :dblthumb2:
Click to expand...
Perhaps Honda's engineers requested that their paint vendors change their paint formulations between the 2008 and 2010 model years?


Bob
 
Klasse Act said:
Anyone have experience w/ Fiat 500 paint, Nero (black) inparticular. Trying to find out if its soft, hard or somewhere in the middle, thanks inadvance!

Sent from my SPH-M930 using AG Online
Click to expand...

From what I have heard, Fiat paint tends to be soft (though not as soft as Honda) or, at best, medium.
 
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